Connector prevented from undesired separation of a locking member

ABSTRACT

In a connector including at least one contact and a housing holding the at least one contact, a locking member is received in a lock receiving portion of the housing and serves to lock a fitted state with a mating connector. The locking member includes a shaft portion. The lock receiving portion includes a bottom surface faced to the shaft portion in its axial direction and a side surface for guiding rotation of the shaft portion. At least one of the locking member and the lock receiving portion includes a spring portion pressing the shaft portion towards the bottom surface.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese patent application No. 2006-256085, filed on Sep. 21, 2006, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a connector having a locking member forlocking a fitted state between the connector and a mating connector.

For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A)No. 2005-267970 discloses a connector in which an insulator has areceiving portion adapted to receive a locking mechanism. The lockingmechanism has a main body, a locking portion extending from one side ofthe main body, a spring portion extending from the other side of themain body to continuously urge the locking portion in an engagingdirection in which the connector is engaged with a mating connector, andan operating portion for unlocking a locked state by the lockingportion. The locking mechanism further has a shaft portion of ahole-like shape formed in the main body to be engaged with a rotationshaft of a pin-like shape formed in the receiving portion. By receivingthe locking mechanism in the receiving portion, the rotation shaft andthe shaft portion are engaged with each other. Thus, the lockingmechanism is rotatably held by the insulator.

However, since the insulator is provided with the pin-like rotationshaft to be engaged with the hole-like shaft portion of the lockingmechanism, it takes much time and labor to incorporate the lockingmechanism into the insulator. This results in an inferiorassemblability.

Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication (JP-U) No.H5-11362 discloses a male connector provided with a lock spring havingan engaging claw and a press button formed at one end and the other end,respectively. The lock spring is fixed to a casing of the male connectorat a generally intermediate position. The engaging claw protrudes from aconnecting end face of the male connector. The press button protrudes ona lateral side of the casing of the male connector. When the pressbutton is pressed inward into the casing, the lock spring is rotated andthe engaging claw moves outward.

However, the engaging claw of the lock spring has elasticity so that theposition of the engaging claw is unstable and the locking strength isnot stable also. If a gap or play is present between the lock spring andthe casing of the male connector, the lock spring can not perform smoothrotation. Further, the lock spring is readily released from the casing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an exemplary object of this invention to provide aconnector which allows smooth rotation of a locking member and which iscapable of preventing the locking member from being released from ahousing.

It is another exemplary object of this invention to provide a connectorwhich is capable of maintaining a constant amount of protrusion of alocking member when it is rotated to a locked state, so as to assure astable locking strength.

Other objects of the present invention will become clear as thedescription proceeds.

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a connector comprising at least one contact, a housing holdingthe at least one contact and having a lock receiving portion, and alocking member received in the lock receiving portion for locking afitted state with a mating connector, wherein the locking memberincludes a shaft portion, the lock receiving portion includes a bottomsurface faced to the shaft portion in its axial direction and a sidesurface for guiding rotation of the shaft portion; and at least one ofthe locking member and the lock receiving portion includes a springportion pressing the shaft portion towards the bottom surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a connector according to an exemplaryembodiment of this invention when it is connected to a connectionobject;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the connector illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the connector illustrated in FIG. 1before it is assembled;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a locking member illustrated in FIGS. 1and 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along a line V-V in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view of a part of a lock receivingportion and a locking member of the connector illustrated in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional perspective view of a part of the lockreceiving portion and the locking member illustrated in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along a line VIII-VIII in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 9 is a sectional perspective view showing a state where the lockingmember is halfway inserted into the lock receiving portion of theconnector illustrated in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, description will be made of a connectoraccording to an exemplary embodiment of this invention.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, a cable 51 such as a FFC (Flexible Flat Cable) as aconnection object is connected to a connector 1. The cable 51 willhereinafter be called the flat cable 51. The flat cable 51 comprises aplurality of conductors (not shown) of a thin belt-like shape, such as ametal foil, arranged in parallel to one another with a space lefttherebetween, and a flexible insulator cover 55 clamping and holding theconductors.

The connector 1 comprises a plurality of contacts 11, an insulatinghousing 21 holding the contacts 11, and a pair of locking members 31attached to the housing 21, and a conductive shell member 41 coupled tothe housing 21. The housing 21 has a main body 22 of a generallyrectangular plate-like shape, and a pair of lock receiving portions 23formed on longitudinal opposite ends of the main body 22. The lockreceiving portions 23 receive the locking members 31, respectively. Thelocking members 31 serve to lock the connector 1 and a mating connector(which is shown by reference numeral 61 in FIGS. 5 and 6) to each otherafter the connector 1 is connected to the mating connector.

The main body 22 has a plate-like fitting portion 25 to be fitted to amating fitting portion of the mating connector, which will hereinafterbe described. The fitting portion 25 has one surface on which thecontacts 11 are arranged in parallel to one another in a longitudinaldirection of the fitting portion 25 with a space left therebetween. Theflat cable 51 has one end at which the conductors are exposed byremoving the insulator cover 55. The conductors at the one end areconnected to the contacts 11 in one-to-one correspondence.

Referring to FIG. 4 also, the locking members 31 will be described.

Each of the locking members 31 has a holding portion 32, a shaft portion33 connected to one side of the holding portion 32, a locking portion 34extending from the shaft portion 33 to one side thereof, an operatingportion 36 extending from the other side of the holding portion 32, andan operation spring portion 35 extending from the operating portion 36and bent in a generally U shape. The operating portion 36 serves to makethe locking portion 34 engage and disengage the connector 1 and themating connector 61.

The locking portion 34 is a part to be engaged with a mating lockingportion of the mating connector. The shaft portion 33 is provided with aspring portion 33 a formed by cutting and raising a plate portion of thelocking member 31. The locking portion 34 has a hook portion 34 a formedat its end. The hook portion 34 a is adapted to be engaged with a matingengaging hole 61 c formed in a mating engaging portion 61 b of themating connector 61 when the connector 1 is fitted to the matingconnector 61.

The operating spring portion 35 continuously urges the locking portion34 in an engaging direction in which the connector 1 is engaged with themating connector 61, and exerts a spring force to return the lockingportion 34 to a normal position after a locked state by the lockingportion 34 is unlocked into an unlocked state. The operating springportion 35 serves to make the operating portion 36 be smoothly moved oroperated.

The operating portion 36 has a free end 36 a bent along a U-shapedportion of the operating spring portion 35. The operating spring portion35 and the free end 36 a of the operating portion 36 are located in thelock receiving portion 31 irrespective of the locked state or theunlocked state.

The locking member 31 can be formed by punching a metal plate by a pressand then forming the spring portion 33 a by cutting and raising.

Referring to FIGS. 5 to 7, the locking member 31 is located at a lockingposition in the locked state. In the locked state in FIGS. 5 and 6, theconnector 1 and the mating connector 61 depicted by two-dot-and-dashlines are fitted to each other and prevented from being released fromeach other.

As shown in FIG. 8 also, each of the lock receiving portions 23 of thehousing 21 comprises an upper plate portion 23 a, a lower plate portion23 b faced to the upper plate portion 23 a with a space lefttherebetween, and an inner wall portion 23 j connecting the upper andthe lower plate portions 23 a and 23 b. The lower plate portion 23 b hasan inner surface provided with a bearing potion 24 a having a recessedshape and a generally circular shape in plan view and adapted to receivethe shaft portion 33 of the locking member 31, a first receiving portion24 e adapted to receive the operating spring portion 35 and theoperating portion 36, and a second receiving portion 24 f adapted toreceive the locking portion 34. The bearing portion 24 a has a bottomsurface 24 b and a side surface 24 c for guiding rotation of the shaftportion 33 of the locking member 31.

In the state where the locking member 31 is received in the lockreceiving portion 23, the shaft portion 33 is received in the bearingportion 24 a and rotatably held. Further, as shown in FIG. 8 also, thespring portion 33 a presses the shaft portion 33 towards the bottomsurface 24 b of the bearing portion 24 a.

Referring to FIG. 9, the locking member 31 is halfway inserted beforereaching a predetermined position of the lock receiving portion 23. Thelock receiving portion 23 is provided with an inclined surface 24 gformed on its insertion side so as to easily insert the shaft portion 33of the locking member 31 to the bearing portion 24 a. As shown in FIG.9, when the locking member 31 is received in the lock receiving portion23, the shaft 33 is engaged with the bearing portion 24 a and thelocking member 31 is rotatably held by the housing 21.

The first receiving portion 24 e of the lock receiving portion 23 isprovided with an inlet 23 r corresponding to an inserting direction A ofthe locking member 31. The inlet 23 r is formed at the first receivingportion 24 e in the lock receiving portion 23 on the side opposite to ahook contacting portion 23 p. When the locking member 31 is insertedthrough the inlet 23 r with the hook portion 34 a directed forward andthe locking portion 34 is received in the second receiving portion 24 f,the shaft portion 33 is fitted to the bearing portion 24 a. In thisstate, the locking member 31 is held in the lock receiving portion 23 inthe inserting direction A and a releasing direction opposite to theinserting direction A and held by the upper and the lower plate portions23 a and 23 b in a vertical direction. The shaft portion 33 received inthe bearing portion 24 a becomes rotatable.

The holding portion 32 of the locking member 31, the shaft portion 33,the locking portion 34 except the hook portion 34 a, and the free end 36a of the operating lever portion 36 are located inside the lockreceiving portion 23 and prevented from being directly touched by afinger. Most part of the operating lever portion 36 of the lockingmember 31, except the free end 36 a, protrudes through an opening 23 mof the lock receiving portion 23 to the outside of the lock receivingportion 23.

The free end 35 a of the operating spring portion 35 has a contactsurface slightly inserted into a groove-like contact portion 23 n formedon an inner wall surface 23 j of the lock receiving portion 23. Thegroove of the contact portion 23 n restricts vertical movement of thefree end 35 a to prevent deformation of the operating spring portion 35.The free end 36 a of the operating portion 36 has an end face which isbrought into contact with the inner wall surface 23 j to preventexcessive pressing when the operating portion 36 is pressed andoperated. The lock receiving portion 23 covers the locking member 31 inthe vertical direction. In addition, in the inserting direction A, thelocking member 31 is received in the lock receiving portion 23.Therefore, the locking member 31 is protected from an external forceexcepting an operating force acting to the operating portion 36.Further, the hook portion 34 a of the locking member 31 is located nearthe locking portion 34. The lock receiving portion 23 is provided withthe hook contact portion 23 p to be brought into contact with the hookportion 34 a at the locking position.

The shell member 41 comprises a first plate portion 43 attached to themain body 22 to face a first surface 22 a of the main body 22, and asecond plate portion 44 attached to the main body 22 to face a secondsurface 22 b opposite to the first surface 22 a. The shell member 41 isformed by punching and then bending a metal plate into a plate-likeshape so as to cover the main body 22 except the lock receiving portions23 and the fitting portion 25. From the state illustrated in FIG. 3, thefirst plate portion 43 is bent to be faced to the second plate portion44 so that the first plate portion 43 is faced to the first surface 22a. The second plate portion 44 is faced to the second surface 22 b.Thus, the shell member 41 is held by the main body 22.

The first plate portion 43 is provided with a plurality of claw portions43 a formed by cutting and raising the first plate portion 43. The clawportions 43 a are brought into contact with the insulator cover 55 ofthe cable 51 through a plurality of windows 22 d formed on the firstsurface 22 a of the main body 22. The conductors at the one end of thecable 51 are connected to a part of the contacts 11 extending from thefitting portion 25 into the main body 22.

Now, description will be made of operations of locking and unlocking theconnector 1 and the mating connector 61.

At first, from the locked state illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 5 to 7, theoperating portion 36 is pushed towards the inner wall surface 23 j ofthe housing 21 by a finger. Then, the operating spring portion 35 isdisplaced and the shaft portion 33 rotates in the bearing portion 24 a.At this time, the locking portion 34 rotates in the second receivingportion 24 f clockwise on the drawing sheet of FIG. 6. The hook portion34 a also rotates in the similar direction. Therefore, the hook portion34 a is released from the mating engaging hole 61 c of the matingengaging portion 61 b of the mating connector 61 so that the lockedstate is cancelled.

In the locked state by the locking member 31, the hook portion 34 a isbrought into contact with the hook contact portion 23 p in the statewhere the free end 35 a of the operating spring portion 35 enters intothe contact portion 23 n of the lock receiving portion 23 with a springforce. Therefore, the rotation of the locking member 31 is restricted toa predetermined rotation angle. In addition, the amount of protrusion ofthe hook portion 34 a of the locking member 31 can be kept constant sothat a stable locking strength is assured.

When the connector 1 and the mating connector 61 are fitted to eachother and locked to each other, the mating engaging portion 61 b of themating connector 61 is inserted into the fitting portion 25 and betweenthe lock receiving portions 23 when the locking member 31 is located atthe locking position. By the above-mentioned operation, the lockingportion 34 is pushed in the second receiving portion 24 f by the matingengaging portion 61 b. When the connector 1 and the mating connector 61are fitted to each other and the hook portion 34 a reaches the matingengaging hole 61 c of the mating engaging portion 61 b, the lockingportion 34 rotates counterclockwise by the spring force of the operatingspring portion 35 and the hook portion 34 a is inserted into the matingengaging hole 61 c to establish the locked state.

As described above, the shaft portion 33 and the bearing portion 24 aare formed by only two components, i.e., each locking member 31 and thehousing 21. The shell member 41 also serves to provide electricgrounding and to enhance a mechanical strength of the housing 21.However, the connector 1 does not require the shell member 41 ifelectric grounding or the mechanical strength of the housing 21 need notbe taken into account.

With the connector according to the exemplary embodiment mentionedabove, the shaft portion 33 is received in the bearing portion 24 a sothat the locking member 31 is rotatably held. In addition, the springportion 33 a presses the shaft portion 33 towards the bottom surface ofthe bearing portion 24 a. With this structure, the locking member 31smoothly rotates and is prevented from being released from the housing21.

Further, it is possible to maintain a constant amount of protrusion ofthe the hook portion 34 a when it is rotated to the locking position.Therefore, the locked state can be securely maintained so that a stablelocking strength is assured.

Further, simply by incorporating the locking member 31 into the lockreceiving portion 23 of the housing 21, the shaft portion 33 isrotatably held by the bearing portion 24 a. Therefore, the shaft portion33 and the bearing portion 24 a can be formed by only two components,i.e., each locking member 31 and the housing 21. It is thereforepossible to simplify an assembling process and to reduce the number ofcomponents.

In the exemplary embodiment mentioned above, the spring portion 33 a isformed at the shaft portion 33 of the locking member 31. However, thespring portion 33 a may be formed near the shaft portion 33.Alternatively, such spring portion may be formed at the lock receivingportion 23 of the housing 21. In case where the spring portion is formedat the lock receiving portion 23, it is a matter of course that theshaft portion 33 is elastically pressed by the spring portion.

The above-mentioned connector may be implemented as a plug connectorwhich supports high-speed transmission and which is for transmitting anelectric signal from an apparatus body to an electronic apparatus as aconnection object.

While the present invention has thus far been described in connectionwith the exemplary embodiment thereof, it will readily be possible forthose skilled in the art to put this invention into practice in variousother manners.

1. A connector comprising: at least one contact; a housing holding theat least one contact and having a lock receiving portion; and a lockingmember received in the lock receiving portion for locking a fitted statewith a mating connector; wherein: the locking member includes a shaftportion; the lock receiving portion includes a bottom surface faced tothe shaft portion in its axial direction and a side surface for guidingrotation of the shaft portion; and at least one of the locking memberand the lock receiving portion includes a spring portion pressing theshaft portion towards the bottom surface; wherein the locking membercomprises: a hook portion connected to the shaft portion and adapted tobe engaged with the mating connector; and an operating portion connectedto the shaft portion for operating the hook portion; further comprisingan operating spring portion connected to the shaft portion for urgingthe hook portion in a direction of engagement with the mating connector;and wherein the housing includes a hook contact portion for locking themovement of the hook portion in a direction of engagement with themating connector.
 2. The connector according to claim 1, wherein thehook portion and the operating portion extend from the shaft portion indirections opposite to each other.
 3. The connector according to claim1, wherein the operating spring portion extends from the operatingportion and is engaged with the housing.
 4. The connector according toclaim 1, wherein at least a free end of the operating portion and theoperating spring portion are located within the lock receiving portionirrespective of a position of the locking member.
 5. The connectoraccording to claim 1, wherein: the lock receiving portion comprises anupper plate portion and a lower plate portion faced to each other with aspace left therebetween; and the lower plate portion includes a bearingportion which is of a recessed shape and receives the shaft portion. 6.The connector according to claim 5, wherein the lower plate portionfurther includes: a first receiving portion receiving the operatingportion and the operating spring portion; and a second receiving portionreceiving the locking member.
 7. A connector comprising: at least onecontact; a housing holding the at least one contact and having a lockreceiving portion; and a locking member received in the lock receivingportion for locking a fitted state with a mating connector; wherein: thelocking member includes a shaft portion; the lock receiving portionincludes a bottom surface faced to the shaft portion in its axialdirection and a side surface for guiding rotation of the shaft portion;and at least one of the locking member and the lock receiving portionincludes a spring portion pressing the shaft portion towards the bottomsurface; and the shaft portion has a plate-like shape; and the springportion is formed by cutting and raising a part of the shaft portion.